


How To Mend Something That Isn't Broken (Beta)

by EleanorSmith



Series: A Facet of Infinity [2]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Beta story, F/M, ambigous storytelling, elements from star wars legends/eu and infinites, filed under: hi hello i like to drag things out and make my audience suffer, kylo's pov this time, mentions of torture/interrogation, now with: military and political intrigue!, slowest of the burns, welcome to round two of what the hell am i doing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-20
Updated: 2017-12-03
Packaged: 2018-07-16 03:02:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7249471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EleanorSmith/pseuds/EleanorSmith
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You were caught in the middle of the biggest betrayal and sabotage in recent memory.  Now, you are a prisoner to those who you devoted your skills to, being endlessly tortured for information you never had.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. More Questions Than Answers

**Author's Note:**

> so, i do have a plan
> 
> just
> 
> i'm really bad at executing said plan
> 
> this is shorter than i'm used to, but, like, when it's all revised, it'll be longer and run more smoothly
> 
> enjoy, if you can

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The bird will limp until it dies  
> But its will determines how

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what the fuck is this shit

Ilum was a light-white-blue orb hanging in the view port of the badly damaged First Order dreadnought. The Judgment's rear two engines had taken a full barrage force-guided shadow bombs and looked more like a melted piece of irradiated metal than the expensive piece of equipment it was. An entire section had been blown off and breached areas were sealed, warning lights flashing where they still worked.

Shuttles rushed to and fro from the Judgement to the Finalizer, carrying surviving crew and personnel to be reassigned while the dreadnought underwent a very costly reconstruction. Because Hux thought it prudent to do so, despite his qualms with having to be aboard during it's retreat. He went over report after report in front of Kylo, muttering more positive noises than negative, few things Kylo cared about. An engineer who had met with them even strongly recommended reconstruction, seeing as the ship had survived a hyperspace jump in such a condition.

Kylo didn't care. His thoughts were elsewhere, tucked away in a detention cell four floors below. Once again, this woman was involved, but this time not indirectly. She had helped the traitors escape, and they had left her behind. A weak link, perhaps? The interrogation sessions would soon reveal what happened, since the malfunctioning equipment of the evacuation sector would not.

Hux was tapping his finger impatiently on the desk, looking at him expectantly. He gazed at him through the mask as Hux's jaw set firmly.

"If you are done meditating, Ren, I have preliminary reports on the subject found at the site." Kylo sneered at Hux from behind the mask. He hated the man with every fiber of his being. But hate was good. Hate would lead him on the path he was destined for. He took the emotion and embraced it.

"And?" He said dryly, the word distorting uncomfortably with the vocalizer.

"Nothing of import, it would seem." He said offhandedly, studying the information streaming in front of him.

"It could be her peculiarities. She might be bypassing the techniques because of her irregular brainwaves." Hux gazed up at him and his lips pursed into a fine line.

"No, as far as the PsyTechs are concerned, it only prevents force users from manipulating her," He smiled tightly. "It appears she continually confesses to have no idea her friends were traitors and she only knew about the attack moments before it happened."

"Impossible. She was there. She helped them escape and they abandoned her." Kylo pressed, but Hux only shook his head.

"I'd like to blame her as much as you, Ren. Such a lapse in our security has never been seen. Three force users and one non-force user managing to infiltrate our ranks without detection is alarming," He looked to Kylo, eyes hard this time. "You had no idea? Not an inkling? The other knights?"

"No," Kylo growled, the accusation cutting deep. "Breha was loyal. I never sensed a presence in Whitsun or Veila."

Hux hummed in thought, brow furrowed. "And what of Fel?"

"Breha could have been suppressing his intent."

Both men were silent, lost in their minds as they processed the information.

"The Supreme Leader will need to know." Kylo only nodded. Such gaps in information was dangerous. Before now, it was known that Skywalker, General Organa, and the Jakku woman--Rey--were the only force users in the Resistance. But, now, there may be more. More hidden in nooks and crannies, waiting to strike, maybe already within the ranks of the Order, looking to tear it from the inside out. And they had terrifying power. Techniques unknown to him, but maybe not unknown to Supreme Leader Snoke.


	2. No Clarity For The Blind Man

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For his rage would hinder his gaze  
> And he would be denied something far greater  
> An Ideal purer than the shadows in his mind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i am dying from a sinus infection and have been in a fever dream state for 3 days (so much that i thought it'd be a fantastic idea to play minecraft and build a tower mathematically incorrect. i do not make good decisions. bad fever ellie. you are not welcome in my home.)
> 
> so...here's something
> 
> when revised, this chapter, the previous, and the next will no doubt be combined, just to make it flow better
> 
> i ran out of tomatoes, so i started to throw moldy potatoes at the keyboard in hopes that the chapter would write itself
> 
> *sprawls on bed of books and attempts to entice audience with a chicken leg*
> 
> enjoy, if you can

His walk to Leader Snoke's chambers was less enlightening as he would have liked, hoping that perhaps he could divulge the woman's secrets from the brief journey. Metal and rock blended together much like it had on Starkiller--but here, there were more rough rock facets and small creatures that lurked within the outcroppings, watching passerby warily. Very few such fauna were seen in proximity to the Supreme Leader's hall, and the air was heavy with a dark energy that made breathing more laborious than it should have been.

Kylo reveled in it, taking the tainted atmosphere and using it to steady his nerves as the giant, durasteel doors slid open to admit him into Snoke's audience chamber. It was twisted rock with kyber crystal fused within, clawing towards the ceiling to more obscene stalactites protruding downwards, threatening to grasp all those unworthy into its inky blackness. Down the center was a pedway made of tamed and flattened brethren of the horrifying outcroppings--refined and designed for a more appealing and easier access to the dais that overlooked it all.

Supreme Leader Snoke sat in the high-back set, stone monolith of a chair and considered his pupil carefully as the man approached. Kylo could feel him on the edge of his mind, but he did not enter. He did not need to. Snoke already knew what brought his apprentice to meet him.

"Master." Kylo bowed down to one knee, bending his head low.

"Kylo Ren," His voice was dry and wispy, slow. "There has been a shift in the Force."

Kylo was silent a moment while opening himself to the ethereal energy, and he found what Snoke said was true. There /was/ a shift, not so much a disturbance--neither to light nor to dark. But something had changed. Something very unknown.

"I sense it." He finally said, looking up at his master.

The grey eyes narrowed at Kylo for a moment, and he thought he caught amusement in them before Snoke spoke once more, "You are distracted."

"I am sorry, Master," Kylo said, fumbling a bit. "With the attack by the Resistance, I've been preoccupied with the interrogation of a suspect."

"And this suspect has you closed off to the subtleties and shifts of your power, of closing yourself off to what is around you?"

Kylo thought a moment before he answered. The woman had confused him, angered him. He had tried to violently throw her across the room after tearing into her mind proved futile. Each and every encounter, she stared up at him, wide-eyed, afraid, unknowing of the advantage she had over him--not accounting that he could have just destroyed her with his lightsaber.

And he hadn't, and it frustrated him even more. He dreamed of her, in bizarre but not-so-bizarre lands, burned down villages, a valley surrounded by dark mountains that his saber could not penetrate, and an endless tundra alight with an aurora. Each time, he found himself hovering over her, unable to reach out to her--unsure if he should. She was a void, a null, a static force that he could not comprehend.

She was on his thoughts, for she was as curious as she was infuriating. Reports showed a brilliance comparable to his own--able to unwind the most complicated of circuitries and cut it down to a mere quarter of its original, and making it more efficient. He'd even brokered for information on her past--superior flying skills, musical and artistic talent, technical thinking; the list went on and on with accolades and accomadations. But she had ended up in the First Order with nothing less than two very surprising references.

"She is unlike any person I've felt in the Force." He confessed.

"The void," Snoke hummed, his presence becoming greater in the Force. "I have felt that, along with the shift," He looked to Kylo, an unreadable look on his face. "You think she aided your sister in her assault?"

"She was there! She did help!" Kylo snapped, his anger boiling over.

"Some things aren't as certain as we like to assume," He said, his voice a slight hiss. "Do not let her nature deceive you," His hands lay to rest on the arms of the chair as he sat back. "She could prove to be valuable in your training. Watch her carefully."

Kylo knew a dismissal and inclined his head once more before standing to leave, fury in the pit of his stomach. Hux awaited outside the chamber, no doubt to give the report on the matter. Neither man looked at each other in passing.


	3. Red

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Words that twist  
> But are not a lie  
> Yet cannot be the truth  
> Verbatim that can guide and mislead  
> Trust and loyalty and obedience  
> Versus one that can bend all with the trick of words that are truthful lies  
> And lying truths

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the delay
> 
> my computer charger shit out and instead of fixing it i decided to fill up on junkfood and play destiny
> 
> anyway, here's a rushed thing that i started before seeing finding dory and then finished after i got back
> 
> also, go see finding dory

"She is interesting," A low, reverberating and mechanical voice from behind made him tense up. "Have you solved the riddle she presents?"

Kylo turned to meet the Broker visor to visor, ominous red light emanating from the eyepiece as armored arms crossed an equally armored chest. Though shorter than himself, though not by much, the droid was equally as imposing and could strike fear into the hearts of others--even his own subordinates.

"She will break," He said, staunch in his belief. "And we will find how the Resistance got aboard, how they got away with something so elaborate."

A step forward as unseen eyes studied his through the apparatus, an unnerving ability that he had not been able to withstand, even with training. "Surely," Was the response. "Even now, Hux has slicers sweeping the networks and profiles of everyone suspected and involved. However," A heavy pause. "She will not break, for she has nothing to give."

He snarled beneath his mask. "And you know that how?"

Silence, a weighted gaze on him, studying him, prying him apart without giving him an immediate response. "You try to see things that are not there, and you struggle because of it," Another step forward, a raised hand with sprawled fingers just barely a hair's breadth from his helmet. He didn't move, using his own will to board his defenses up. "You allow your emotions to cloud your mind; the hatred for Breha and her cohorts has veered you somewhere far away from where the truth lays."

"And you know the truth?" He growled, smacking the hand away. A gaze to it before it fell to rest and the red-glow met his eyes again.

"Of course," The mechanical voice almost sounded amused. "How much are you willing to pay for it?"

He sneered, brushing past the Broker, too angry to deal with such foolishness. Let the Agents play their games. There was an interrogation he was interested in back in orbit, and he made his way to the hangar to leave planet back to the Judgment.

Still, the words haunted him. Had he let his anger towards his sister cloud the truth? No. The technician was involved. She had to be. Why else would she be with the traitors on the eve of their sabotage and escape? Everything else had been planned to meticulously; surely, leaving her behind was part of the plan! She was a bomb waiting to go off, to cripple the ship. There was some role not foreseen she had yet to fulfill on the Resistance's behalf.

Hux's frown at his inquiry about the prisoner did not quell the frustration locked in his chest.

"She is weak-minded, Ren. A broken tool as of right now with no information on the incident," The General sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "It can only be assumed from her testimony that Veila had grown fond of her and attempted to smuggle her out, but was left behind when the others disagreed."

Weakness. Fondness. Compassion. Things that were forbidden for they were fragile. He almost pitied the woman for being caught in such a trap. Left behind to be a martyr. He looked back to Hux, only to see him entering data into the datapad.

"This technician was a valuable asset, unfortunately," He let out a breath of weariness. "I'm assigning my best PsyTechs to undo the damage the interrogation no doubt had on her."

Kylo's stomach clenched at that. "Surely, you can find another pair of hands to train."

"Of course," Hux mused. "But the only reason this ship held together during the assault was because of modifications she made," He gestured widely. "The moment we entered hyperspace, we should have been torn apart, but during the beginning of her assignment, she managed to retrofit the entirety of the main circuit board for shielding and hyperdrive coolant systems and upped the efficiency by two percent."

"That isn't much of a difference." Kylo defended. Surely such a small adjustment couldn't have saved them.

"That two percent is the reason we're still aboard speaking and the Judgment is going in for repairs," He said smugly. "Are you afraid of her, Ren? With her strange mental hang up?"

He sneered at him from behind the mask. Hux didn't comprehend the gravity of the situation. Instead of executing the woman for being involved, he was rehabilitating her because she made things /more efficient/.

"Keeping her is a mistake." He warned.

"I'll keep that in mind the next time you have a fit and break something," He smiled thinly. "Did you see that room you destroyed? It looks as if you had never even looked at it."

Kylo spun around and exited the room, fuming. This was a mistake. /She/ was a mistake. He would leave back to the Finalizer and meditate on the events, then sleep. Fatigue was one of the only things that he could not prevent with the force, not for long.


	4. The Hand That No Longer Feeds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Three and Eight  
> Pattern and Infinites  
> One is stability, the other chaos  
> One is definite, the other unpredictable  
> An endless loop versus structure  
> Life, death, and rebirth  
> All of it caught in the fabric of reality  
> Three and Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you believe i had to do research on this shit like maps and names and bullshit and i have to fix the tags and i just wanna pull my hair out and scream
> 
> eNJOY THE INTRIGUE
> 
> BECAUSE I SURE DIDN'T THAT'S LIKE OVER AN HOUR OF RESEARCH THAT I PROBABLY DIDN'T NEED TO DO, BUT
> 
> AUTHENTIC (tm)

Rest, it would seem, would not be easy for him with the events weighing so heavily on his mind still. Kylo drifted between wakefulness, the void of unconsciousness, and the world of dreams and when he awoke, a mosaic of imagery that did not make sense clouded his groggy mind. A spear-tip that broke into ribbons of copper, four pairs of red eyes--each blinking slowly at him, Jaina's tear-filled eyes--an early memory when something bad had happened, and a strange, musical sound that shifted between several notes very smoothly.

He immediately brushed it from his mind and saw his commlink blinking, only to find he had been summoned to the bridge a mere few minutes before. In a matter of a minute he was suited up and striding the corridor to the Finalizer's main bridge. Hux's irritated presence could be felt--fiery and hot and so very annoyed. It contrasted to the presence of another--playful, toying, amused. Someone who should not be there, was, and for some reason could not be removed by normal means.

Upon entering, he was met with the sight of a woman leaning against Hux's controls, her mouth curled up in an obscene smirk. No, it was the scar that dragged up from the corner of her lip that made it obscene. Without the blemish, it would've been a dry smile and her dark eyes would be the only give-a-way of her amusement. Hux was spitting something quietly in her direction when she looked up to Kylo, causing the General to turn around, his face turning from a sneer to a deep-set frown.

"Please ask this Agent to remove herself from my bridge." Hux was using pleasantries, meaning she had really gotten under the man's skin.

Kylo approached them, his gaze fixed on her. "Vestara, you are not permitted on the main deck." He said, annoyed tone filtering through his vocalizer.

"I am permitted wherever I'd like," She grinned devilishly, and he had an inkling of why she was here, bothering Hux. "It is unwise to get in my way."

"Of course," Kylo turned back to Hux. "I hope this isn't the reason I was summoned?"

"That's it?" The man's face went a shade of red reserved for ludicrousness in his presence. "You can't remove her from my presence?"

"It is not wise to entangle ourselves in the affairs of the Eight," In a lower tone, he added. "Despite that they are guests and disrespect our requests."

Vestara gaped, a faux-pas expression of appall. "I have done no such thing!" She squawked, her pale hand splaying against her chest. "If anything, I am doing my job!"

Kylo frowned at her as Hux's face deepened in fury. It was odd to see the Khai woman not latched onto her partner, Dyon, and causing a ruckus without cause. Her force presence was deceivingly calm, and he suspected she knew something important and was toying with Hux until he figured out her game.

The man was biting warnings at her when Kylo closed the distance between he and her, looking down. Her eyes narrowed and smirk broadened to a satisfied grin as she looked up at him.

"Yes?" She hummed, crossing her arms across her chest.

"You know something." He accused, fingers closing at his sides.

"I do?" And that's when he knew she was about to dance around him, test him in the game the Agents played when they were gathering information or about to make an offer.

"Is there another reason you are on the bridge?" He had to play this close to the chest. She was being watchful of him and Hux, gauging their words and actions and waiting to spring.

"Did you consider I might enjoy gallivanting around an unknown ship?" Her head turned a bit as she looked at his visor, eyes sparkling like a nexu trapping a prey before pouncing.

"Does that include breaking conditions agreed upon when the Maw Dancer docked?" He bit, pushing his presence towards her. Vestara, of course, didn't even flinch. But she appeared to think about her next words before speaking.

"How loyal are your forces?" Her tone had changed, and it did so dangerously. There wasn't an accusation, but there was a hint of smug satisfaction as she said it.

"They are trained from birth to be loyal." Hux answered quickly, his emotions in the force very frayed and uncomfortable with the route the conversation was taking.

"The stormtroopers and the younger personnel, yes," She side-stepped Kylo, her fingers entwining in front of her as she addressed the General. "But what of those who were the foundation of the Order? The stalwart Imperial Remnant, Moffs and Grand Moffs that helped formed the basis of this great--yet wounded--military force? Are /they/ loyal?"

"I don't like your accusation, Agent." Hux warned, stepping towards her.

"I could give you the names, before you start losing contact with whole sectors?" She suggested. "I just need preferential access to this ship. The /entire/ ship."

Kylo mused that if people could explode by sheer power of rage, Hux might have done so at that moment. Instead, his gaze fell towards Kylo in a silent inquiry.

"Why is the Broker not presenting this information?" He asked carefully.

Her face shifted into a frown as she turned to him. "The Broker does not see internal squabbling worth sacrificing valuable time to deliver," She stated, her lips parting slowly into a smile once more. "However, I find myself in need of the layout of this ship and everything that lays within--without someone throwing me into a detention sector. You give me what I want, and I will give you the list of names of those who aren't loyal."

It was sound and logical and damning. He turned to Hux once more. "The Eight are not known for offering false information, General."

"Or information in a timely manner, it would seem," The man huffed, turning back to his console and typing in a series of quick key-taps. From the side of the machine, a keypass popped out and he handed it Vestara. "I respectfully request that you do not disrupt or damage anything."

She took the pass and smiled up at him. "As of forty-three minutes ago, Admiral Pellaeon was assassinated," Hux's red face drained of color and Kylo felt his gut knot up. Gilad Pellaeon was a war hero from the Old Empire, had kept the remnants together until the Order was founded. The man had been a ruthless and respected leader, albeit growing old in age. An assassination meant a vacuum of power. "We are still investigating who could have done so, but we are certain the Resistance wasn't behind it. However, they've used the power vacuum to place Jagged Fel into his position without Leader Snoke's knowledge."

"Why haven't we heard of this?" Hux demanded, his fist clenched atop the console.

"You weren't supposed to know until the sector black-outs were reported, which will be five minutes from now, I believe," She hummed. "Moffs Calron, Garreter, Getelles, Jowar, Lecersen, Malvek, Rezer, Sarreti, Trevin, Vansyn, Westermal, and Wolbam have all--albeit hesitantly--agreed to defect under Fel's banner and retreat into Resistance space."

"That's," Hux looked like a ghost. "Eight sectors."

"I would suggest sending encrypted messages to any Order outposts and try to secure them before blackout. Otherwise, I'm afraid you'll completely lose them," Her smile was dry and she turned her attention to the keypass. "It's been gratifying doing business with you, General Hux. Good luck on the war front."

Kylo watched as she swaggered away, her light-brown hair swaying with her movement until she left the bridge. Hux's composure mirrored what he would assume that of when Starkiller fell. The man's eyes were large in shock as he turned to his people, and doubt and suspicion strangled his aura. He brought up his commlink and spoke softly into it and slowly, the room started to shift with movement as personnel started to sent transmissions.

Five minutes passed as a dark-skinned, greying woman called to them, reporting Dynali sector communiques had halted, and almost immediately, three other officers called out that Prefsbelt, Velcar, and Perrinn had gone quiet, too. Clacis, Carrion, Obtrexta, and finally Braxxant--the Remnant's capitol world of Bastion within--had gone silent. Only minimal contact with those within, thanks to Vestara's warning and suggestion.

Hux left the bridge and went to the war room, no doubt to discuss tactics with the other admirals, generals, and commanders scattered across the galaxy. Kylo stood at the viewport, watching the dark void and its pinpricks of lights against Ilum's bright surface.

Treason was a disease that had infected the very open wound Starkiller had left in the First Order. It was deadly and could not be treated gently; it needed to be found at the source and infected areas identified, then excised. Slowly, a plan started to form in his mind as to how--and the woman on the Judgment would help him, without even knowing.


	5. Update

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys! I know it's been a long time, and I know you'll be disappointed to know I'm closing this story. But, I am currently reworking Huh (Beta) as the release of The Last Jedi approaches.
> 
> So, a lot of bad things have happened since the last chapter was posted. I lost my job, my mother, and my apartment in the course of just eight months and my mental health hasn't been very good. I've been trying to work on writing an original story and posting it to Patreon, but it's hard when you're losing your mind.
> 
> I'll be posting the new version of Huh as I finish the chapters and work out the plot, then begin updating this one--probably waaaay after the movie comes out.
> 
> Thanks for the views, kudos, and comments! I have been reading them, but was unable to respond until now. Stay safe out there!
> 
> -El

Hey, there's no story here! Stay tuned, though!


End file.
